:3502 
T3 
/ 1 



GRAMMAR QUERIES 

ON 

GRAY'S ELEGY 

WITH 

Notes and Answers 

BY 

J. M. TAYLOR, M. S. 

Principal of the Public Schools 
Newcastle, Wash. 



PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 
1915 



#i 



Corrigenda 



Shakespeare says, ^''Out damned spot! out^ Jsa?/." 
Lady Macbeth could not wash the spot from her hand; but, 
if the sales of this book warrant another edition, we shall en- 
deavor to "out" some of these spots: 

Page 4, line 19, insert an e in rugged. 
Page 9, in query 53, when should be where. 
Page 11, in query 113, close the space in history. 
Page 17, after query 199 insert: 200 Parse to stray. 

Change 200 to 201. 
Page 19, change 257 to 251. 
Page 26, insert at the top of the page — 
23 Way is in the objective case. It is used adverbially to 
Page 28, after 49 insert: 50 It does 

Page 29, line 2, for French insert Trench and the same in 
line 6. 

Page 31, in answer 101, observe should be obscure. 

Page 32, in answer 116, change to yon to with you. 

Pag'e 41, line 3, insert ^.ti at the beginning. 

Page 45, in answer 290,^h^^erbation should be hyperbaton. 



GRAMMAR QUERIES 

ON 

GRAY'S ELEGY 

WITH 

Notes and Answers 

BY 

J. M. TAYLOR, M. S. 

Principal of the Public Schools 
Newcastle, Wash. 



PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 
1915 






Copyright 1915 

by 
J. M. TAYLOR 



:.i 



M 26 1915 

©CI,A4U6433 



PREFACE 



The design of this little book is to furnish supplemental 
work for students of English. It can be used with any text 
book on English Grammar, in any school in which grammar is 
taught. Many difficult constructions of the English sentence 
are explained in its pages. 

It is an analysis of the most exquisite poem in our 
language. It is believed that this work will be helpful to 
both teachers and students of English. 

After many years of careful study the book is offered 
with some diffidence to the educational public. 

J. M. TAYLOR. -" 



THE EXCELLENCE OF THE POEM 



Gray spent eight years from 1742 to 1750 in writing, im- 
proving and perfecting this the finest poem ever produced in 
English. It became so popular that it was translated into all 
the modern languages of Europe, as well as into Greek, Hebrew 
and Latin. 

The cause of this wide -spread popularity of the poem lies 
in the fact that it expresses in an easy, natural way, the feel- 
ings and emotions that, time after time, have found a place in 
every breast. 

Its naturalness and simplicity win the heart and enlist the 
tenderest of human sympathies. Speculations on the strange 
and wonderful problems of life and death will at times force 
themselves upon the mind. 

Need it be wondered at, that an almost irresistible fasci- 
nation takes possession of the reader when perusing what, to 
him, is largely a reflex of his own serious meditations? 

By a few facile strokes of the pen, in his inimitable style, 
the poet draws the deepening shades of twilight in upon* us and 
amid the hush of nature we see the churchyard and its "ru'^g d 
elms." Our meditations carry us back to the "toils" and 
''homely joys" of the "rude forefathers." The imposing "tomb " 
the "storied urn," the "animated bust," deeply impress the 
mind. We look upon the graves and moralize on the possibili- 
ties and probabilities of the lives of those now interred be- 
neath those "mouldering heaps." 

At each successive reading of the beautiful poem, we linger 
with delight over those impressive and affecting lines and re- 
solve to lead a better life. 

What a grand, pathetic, and sympathizing soul was Gray! 

Let him who would understand the force and grandeur of 
the English language give his days and nights to the study 
of the Elegy. 



WHAT GREAT THINKERS HAVE SAID 
OF GRAY'S ELEGY. 



Dr. Johnson, who never said a good word for Gray's pro- 
ductions, if he could help it, gave the following favorable criti- 
cism of the Elegy: "In the character of the Elegy I rejoice 
to concur with the common reader. 'The churchyard' abounds 
with images which find a mirror in every mind and with senti- 
ments to which every bosom returns an echo. Had Gray written 
often thus, it had been vain to blame, and useless to praise 
him." 

Byron thus expresses his high esteem of the Elegy: "Had 
Gray written nothing but his Elegy, high as he stands, I am 
not sure that he would not stand higher; it is the corner-stone 
of his glory." 

Another writer says: "It is the. familiar recitation of every 
schoolboy, the thoughtful pleasure of every man." 

It is related that the night before the attack on Quebec, as 
the British troops were floating in darkness and in silence 
down the St. Lawrence, General Wolfe repeated the lines of 
the Elegy to his companions, and exclaimed: "Now, gentlemen, 
I would prefer being the author of that poem to the glory of 
beating the French tomorrow!" 

After the events of the following day, how prophetic seems 
the line. 

The paths of glory lead hut to the grave! 

Daniel Webster, just before his death, requested Gray's 
Elegy to be read to him, that he might again listen to its 
soothing words. 

Dr. Thomas M. Gatch, one of the greatest teachers that 
ever lived on the Pacific Coast, a few months before his death, 
told the writer that he had spent some time lately committing 
Gray's Elegy to memory, or rather refreshing his memory with 
the pathos and grandeur of the poem. 

Samuel S. Greene, the grammarian, says: "Study care- 
fully this Elegy, analyze it with exactness, challenge every 
word in it to give up to you its separate contribution to the 
chain of the whole, and you will write and speak better English 
all your life after." 



ELEGY 

Written In a Country Churchyard 



1 The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, 

2 The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea, 

3 The plowman homeward plods his weary way, 

4 And leaves the world to darkness and to me. 



II 



5 Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, 

6 And all the air a solemn stillness holds, 

7 Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, 

8 And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds: 



QUERIES. ^1 



1 What is an elegy? 

2 What is an epitaph? 

3 What is a dirge? 

4 What are the leading thoughts contained in Gray's Elegy? 

5 What constitutes the peculiar charm of the poem? 

6 Describe the metre. 



QUERIES 7 

7 What was the origin of the custom of burying the dead in 
churchyards? 

8 What is the meaning of curfew? 

9 What is the derivation of the word curfew? 

10 Does the ringing of the curfew still prevail in England? 

11 Is the verb tolls transitive or intransitive? 

12 Is knell a cognate object or an appositive? 

13 What is the meaning of parting day? 

14 Why is the form parting used here? 

15 Why is the verb wind plural in form? 

16 What is a leaf Give the derivation of the word. 

17 Arrange the words in the third line in as many ways as 
possible, preserving the rythm, the general sentiment and 
the rhyming word. 

18 Is there a synonym of plods that might appropriately take 
its place? 

19 Is plods transitive or intransitive? 

20 What word does weary logically qualify? Grammatically? 

21 What or who was weary? 

22 What right has the poet to collate words thus? 

23 In what case is way?.. How used? 

24 What does the word world mean? 

25 Does the plowman leave the world? 

26 What is the subject of the verb ^adesf 

27 What is the subject of the verb holds? 

Did Gray mean the air holds a stillness, or a stillness 
holds the air? 

28 What does the word holds mean? 

29 What part of speech is the word save? 

30 Give the history of the word save. 

31 What is the object of save? 

32 Is the verb wheels transitive or intransitive? 

33 What is a beetle? 

34 What figure of speech is expressed by droning flight and 
drowsy tinklings? What is it that drones? What or who 
is drowsy? 

35 What figure of speech is folds? 

36 What is the object of save? 

37 How should that in line 9 be parsed? 

38 What part of speech is yonder? 



8 gray's elegy 



III 



f) Save that, from yonder ivy-mantled tower, 

10 The moping- owl does to the moon complain 

11 Of such as, wandering near her secret bower, 

12 Molest her ancient solitary reign. 

IV 

13 Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, 

14 Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap, 

15 Each in his narrow cell forever laid, 

16 The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. 

V 

17 The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, 

18 The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed, 

19 The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn, 

20 No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed. 

VI 

21 For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, 

22 Or busy housewife ply her evening care ; 

23 No children run to lisp their sire's return, 

24 Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share. 

39 Define ivy-mantled. 

40 What is the derivation of the word tower? 

41 Why is the word moping used with oivlf 

42 In what way does the owl complain to the moon? 

43 What part of speech is such? ..As? ..Wandering? Near? 

44 Why has the pronoun her the feminine form? 

45 What is the derivation of hower? 

46 In what case is hower and how used? 

47 Why is the word ancient used here? 

48 In some editions of the Elegy there is a comma after 
ancient. Why should not the comma be used here? 



» 



QUERIES 9 

49 What relation does the preposition 'beneath show? 

50 Does it govern shade as well as elms? 

51 Does shade mean shadow? 

52 What does rugged mean? 

53 What does the clause introduced by when modify? 

54 Is heaves transitive or intransitive? 

55 What is the subject of heaves? 

56 What is the history of the phrase many a? 

57 Should many and a be parsed together? Why? 

58 What part of speech is each and how used? 

59 What does the expression narrow cell mean? 

60 What is the meaning of the word rude? 

61 Analyze the word hamlet. What does ham mean? What 
does Ze^mean? 

62 What is the meaning of the epithet incense-hreathing? 

63 Parse twittering. To what does stratv-huilt refer? 

64 What is a clarion? 

65 By what figure of speech is clarion used? 

66 To what custom does the expression echoing horn allude? 

67 Should the words no and more be parsed together? Why? 

68 What is the subject of shall rouse? 

69 Why shall and not will? 

70 What is the antecedent of them? 

71 Why lowly and not low? 

72 Does lowly hed mean the grave? 

73 What accumulation is found in these lines? 

74 What constitutes the figure of euphemism? 

75 What is the subject of shall hum? 

76 Does the hearth burn? 

77 What change in the meaning would arise by substituting 
will for shall? 

78 Is care the object of ply? 

79 What does ply mean? 

80 What does care mean? 

81 How should to lisp be parsed? Return? 

82 Is knees object of climb? 

83 What is the object of to share? 

84 What does to share modify? 



10 gray's elegy 

VTI 

25 Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, 

26 Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke ; 

27 How jocund did they drive their team afield ! 

28 How bow VI the woods beneath their sturdy stroke ! 

VIII 

29 Let not Ambition mock their useful toil, 

30 Their homely joys, and destiny obscure; 

31 Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile 

32 The short and simple annals of the poor. 

IX 

33 The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 

34 And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 

35 Awaits alike th' inevitable hour. 

36 The paths of glory lead but to the grave. 



37 Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault, 

38 If Memory o 'er their tomb no trophies raise ; 

39 Where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault, 

40 The pealing anthem swells the note of praise. 



85 What is the derivation and meaning of sickle? 

86 What is the antecedent of their f 

87 What is the subject of has broke? 

88 Why did Gray use the form has broke here? 



QUERIES • 11 

89 Is has broke grammatical? 

90 What is the meaning of stubborn? 

91 By what figure of speech is furrow used? 

92 What is the meaning of glebef 

93 By what right does the poet use jocund for jocundly? 

94 What does jocund modify? 

95 How should afield be parsed? 

96 What is the force of the prefix a in afield? 

97 What is the subject of bow'd? 

98 What does sturdy mean? 

99 By what figure of speech is Ambition used?. 

100 How should moclc be parsed? 

101 Parse joys, destiny and obscure. 

102 What is the meaning of homely? 

103 By what figure is grandeur used? 

104 What is the meaning of annals? 

105 In what number is poor? 

106 What is heraldry? 

107 What part of speech is all? 

108 What is the subject of awaits? 

109 Some editions of the Elegy have await. 

110 Why should it be awaits? 

111 What part of speech is alike? How used? 

112 What is the meaning of inevitable hour? 

113 The paths of glory lead but to the grave. Give two in- 
stances in his tory that show the truth of this statement. 

114 What part of speech is but and how used? 

115 Are the two forms you and ye alike in meaning? 

116 Parse ye and proud. 

117 What part of speech is these? 

118 Whom do these represent? 

119 By what figures is memory used? 

120 What does the clause introduced by where modify? 

121 What is the meaning of long-drawn? 

122 What is the derivation of aisle? 

123 What is a fretted vault? 

124 What is an anthem? 

125 Parse pealing. 



12 gray's elegy 

XI ' : 

41 Can storied urn or animated bust 

42 Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? 

43 Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust ? 

44 Or Flattery soothe the dull cold ear of Death ? 

XII 

45 Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid 

46 Some heart once pregnant Avith celestial fire ; 

47 Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway'd, 

48 Or wak'd to ecstasy the living lyre: 

XIII 

49 But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page, 

50 Rich Avith the spoils of time, did ne'er unroll; 

51 Chill Penury repressed their noble rage, 

52 And froze the genial current of the soul. 

XIV 

53 Full many a gem of purest ray serene 

54 The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear; 

55 Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 

56 And waste its sweetness on the desert air. 



QUERIES 13 

126 What is the meaning of storied urn? 

127 What does animated mean here? 

128 For what is mansion used? 

129 What does Honour's voice mean? 

130 Why is the word provoke used here? 

131 What is the derivation of provoke? 

132 What rhetorical figures in these lines? . 

133 In what sense is the epithet neglected used? 

134 Parse pregnant. 

135 What is the subject of is laid? 

136 What is the meaning of celestial fire? 

137 Parse hands. 

138 What is meant by rod of empire? 

139 What is meant by living lyre? 

140 What does her represent? 

141 Why is her feminine? 

142 In what case is page? 

143 Why ample page? 

144 What does rich modify? 

145 What is meant by spoils of time? 

146 Why is chill used with penury? 

147 Why unroll? Why not open the page? Do we unroll 
pages? 

148 What is meant by nohle rage? 

149 What is the derivation of genial? 

150 What does current mean? 

151 What does full modify? 

152 Can many and a be parsed separately? Why? 

153 What is a gem? 

154 What does purest ray serene mean? 

155 What does serene modify? 

156 What does serene mean? 

157 What is an unfathomed cave? What is a fathom? For 
what used? 

158 What is the meaning of l:)ear? 

159 Parse to hlush. 

160 Is unseen a participle or an adjective? Why? 

161 Why is hlush used and not blossom? 

162 Parse waste. 

163 Why is the epithet desert used? 



14 gray's elegy 

XV 

57 Some village Hampden, that with dauntless breast 

58 The little tyrant of his fields withstood, 

59 Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest, 

60 Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country's blood. 

XVI 

61 Th' applause of listening senates to command, 

62 The threats of pain and ruin to ciespise, 

63 To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land, 

64 And read their history in a nation's eyes, 

XVII 

65 Their lot forbade : nor circumscrib 'd alone 

66 Their growing virtues, but their crimes confin'd; 

67 Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne, 

68 And shut the gates of mercy on mankind, 

XVIII 

69 The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide, 

70 To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame, 

71 Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride 

72 With incense kindled at the Muse's flame. 



I 



QUERIES 15 

164 Some village Hampden. What figure is this? 

165 Why villager 

166 Who was Hampden? 

167 What is meant by little tyrant of his fields? 

168 What is the subject of withstood? 

169 In what case is Hampden and how used? 

170 Give an account of Milton and his writings. 

171 Why inglorious Milton here? 

172 Who was Cromivell? 

173 Gray takes the Royalist view and implies that Cromwell 
was guilty of his country's blood. What is your opinion? 

174 Give reasons in support of your opinion. 

175 To what does listening senates refer? 

176 Parse to command, to despise, to scatter and to read. 

177 What is the object of each of these infinitives? 

178 What is meant by smiling land? 

179 Why is a comma placed at the end of this stanza? 

180 What figure of speech extends from the XVII back to 
the XVI stanza? 

181 What part of speech is alone? How used? 

182 What is the meaning of growing virtues? 

183 Analyze nor circumscribe alone their growing virtues, 
but their crimes confined. 

184 Give instances in English history of wading through 
slaughter to a throne. 

185 What is meant by shut the gates of mercy? 

186 Gates of mercy expresses what figure of speech? 

187 What act of Gray's exemplifies the sentiment of this 
stanza? 

188 Why should any one hide the struggling pangs of consc- 
ious truth? 

189 Are rustic country people less liable to do so than others? 
Why? 

190 Do they attempt to quench the blushes of shame? 

191 What is the meaning of ingenuous? 

192 What is a shrine? 

193 What is incense? 

194 Parse kindled. 

195 What is a Muse? Name the Muses. 



16 gray's elegy 

XIX 

73 Far from the madding: crowd's ignoble strife, 

74 Their sober wishes never learn 'd to stray; 

75 Along the cool sequester 'd vale of life 

76 They kept the noiseless tenor of their way. 

XX 

77 Yet even these bones from insult to protect, 

78 Some frail memorial still erected nigh, 

79 With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck'd, 

80 Implores the passing tribute of a sigh. 

XXI 

81 Their name, their years, spelt by th' unletter'd Muse, 

82 The place of fame and elegy supply ; 

83 And many a holy text around she strews, 

84 That teach the rustic moralist to die. 

XXII 

85 For who, to dumb f orgetfulness a prey, 

86 This pleasing anxious being e'er resign 'd, 

87 Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, 

88 Nor cast one longing lingering look behind? 

XXIII 

89 On some fond breast the parting soul relies, 

90 Some pious drops the closing eye requires ; 

91 Even from the tomb the voice of Nature cries, 

92 Even in our ashes live their wonted fires. 



QUERIES 17 

196 How should far be parsed? 

197 What does far from the madding crotcd's ignohle strife 
modify? 

198 What does madding mean? 

199 What is meant by ignoble strife? 

200 What does sober mean here? 

202 Why cool vale? 

203 What does sequestered mean? 

204 What does noiseless tenor mean? 

205 What does yet modify? 

206 What is the use of even? What part of speech is it? 

207 Parse bones and to protect. 

208 What is meant by memorials? 

209 Parse erected and nigh. 

210 What is the meaning of uncouth? 

211 Parse deck'd. 

212 What does shapeless mean? 

213 What is the subject of implores? 

214 Why spelt and not spelled? 

215 What does unlettered mean? 

216 What is meant by fame and elegy? 

217 What does text mean? i 

218 What is the antecedent of she? 

219 Why not to teach instead of that teach? 

220 What is the object of teach? 

221 What is the meaning of rustic moralist? 

222 What part of speech is for? ■ 

223 What does dumb forgetfulness mean? 

224 Is prey an appositive or an object? 

225 Why is pleasing used to modify being? 

226 Why warm? What does precincts mean? 

227 What figure of speech is expressed by longing lingering 
look? 

228 In some editions there is a comma after longing. Should 
there be one there? Why? 

229 What figure of speech begins with On some fond breast? 

230 What does parting mean? Pious? 

231 What do the pronouns our and their represent? 

233 What does ashes mean? Why? What is cremation? 

234 What does wonted mean? Fires? 



18 gray's elegy 

XXIV 

93 For thee, who, mindful of th' unhonour'd dead, 

94 Dost in these lines their artless tale relate, 

95 If chance, by lonely contemplation led, 

96 Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate, 

XXV 

97 Haply some hoary-headed swain may say, 

98 ' ' Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn 

99 Brushing with hasty steps the dews away, 

100 To meet the sun upon the upland lawn. 

XVI 

101 There at the foot of yonder nodding beech, 

102 That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high, 

103 His listless length at noontide would he stretch, 

104 And pore upon the brook that babbles by. 

XXVII 

105 Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn, 

106 Muttering his wayw^ard fancies he would rove ; 

107 Now drooping, woeful-wan, like one forlorn, 

108 Or craz'd with care, or cross 'd in hopeless love. 

XXVIII 

109 One morn I miss'd him on the custom 'd hill, 

110 Along the heath, and near his favourite tree ; 

111 Another came ; nor yet beside the rill, 

112 Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he ; 



235 With what is for thee grammatically connected? 

236 Thee, Does Gray mean himself? 

237 What does unhonour'd mean? 



QUERIES 19 

238 What is the difference between tmhonour'd and dis- 
honoured F 

239 What is an artless tale? 

240 Does chance mean hy chance or perchance? 

241 What does led modify? 

242 Is fate the object of inquire? 

243 What does kindred spirit mean? Give reason for comma 
after fate. 

244 What is a swain? 

245 What does haply mean? 

246 What is the object of may say? 

247 What does peep of dawn mean? 

248 What part of speech is brushing and how used? 

249 What does to meet the sun mean? 

250 What is an upland lawn? 
257 What is the meaning of lawn? 

252 What does nodding mean? Did the beech nod? 

253 What does wreathes mean? Fantastic? 

254 Why is listless used with length? 

255 What ^oe^ noontide mean? 

256 What does pore mean? 

257 Make sentences containing rattle, tinkle, clash, crash, 
rumble and murmur. 

258 What faulty rhyme in this stanza? 

259 What part of speech is hard? 

260 What does the phrase smiling as in scorn modify? 

261 Parse as. 

262 What does the phrase muttering his wayward fancies 
modify? 

263 What do drooping, woeful-wan, crazed, and crossed 
modify? 

264 What part of speech is like? 

265 What does forlorn modify? 

266 How should one be parsed? 

267 Parse morn. 

268 What does customed mean? 

269 What part of speech is near? 

270 What part of speech is another? 

271 What is a rill? 

272 In what sense is wood used? Why does this stanza end 
with a colon? 



20 gray's elegy 

XXIX 

113 The next, with dirges due in sad array, 

114 Slow through the church-way path we saw him borne. 

115 Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay 

116 Grav'd on the stone beneath yon aged thorn." 

XXX 

THE EPITAPH, 

117 Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth 

118 A youth, to Fortune and to Fame unknown ; 

119 Fair Science frown 'd not on his humble birth, 

120 And Melancholy mark'd him for her own. 

XXXI 

121 Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere, 

122 Heaven did a recompense as largely send ; 

123 He gave to Misery all he had, a tear ; 

124 He gain'd from Heaven ('twas all he wish'd) a friend. 

XXXII 

125 No farther seek his merits to disclose, 

126 Or draw his frailties from their dread abode, 

127 (There they alike in trembling hope repose) 

128 The bosom of his Father and his God. 



QUERIES 21 

273 What part of speech is next and how used? 

274 What is a dirge f 

275 What does due mean? 

276 Does sad logically modify array? 

277 What does slow modify? Why not written slowly? 

278 What does churchivay path mean? 

279 What is the object of saw? 

280 Parse home. 

281 What does the parenthetical clause imply? 

282 What is a lay? 

283 Grav'd. Why not graven? 

284 What is an epitaph? 

285 What figure is lap of earth? 

286 What is the subject of rests? 

287 In what case is head and how used? 

288 Is unknown a participle or an adjective? 

289 Name all the figures of speech in this stanza. 

290 Large was his bounty. What is this called? 

291 What is the derivation of sincere? 

292 How is as used? 

293 Parse large. 

294 Which is the appositive, all or tear? 

295 What is the object of wish'd? 

296 How should friend be parsed? 

297 What is the object of seek? Why? 

298 Parse to disclose and draw. 

299 What does dread abode mean? 

300 What is the antecedent of they? 

301 What does alike modify? 

302 Parse bosom? 

303 Which of the stanzas of the Elegy is oftenest quoted? 



NOTES AND ANSWERS. 



1 An elegy is a poem commemorative of the dead. 

2 An epitaph is an inscription on a tombstone in memory 
of the dead. 

3 A dirge is a solemn funeral hymn. 

4 The poem opens with a description of the churchyard and 
its surroundings as they appear in the shades of twilight. 
The graves lead the poet to meditate on the life and fate 
of the humble occupants. He recounts their cares, their 
labors, and their joys, and then calls upon the great of the 
earth not to despise the simple story of the poor; bidding 
them remember that death comes alike to all, and that 
their posthumous honors can as little recall them to life 
as these neglected graves can reanimate the poor. He con- 
tinues to reflect how circumstances alone prevented them 
from attaining the positions and wielding the influence for 
which their natural abilities fltted them; how their lot 
prevented them from committing crimes and follies of 
those in higher spheres of life. But even they have not 
passed away unremembered, for these "frail memorials" 
perpetuate their memory while instructing future genera- 
tions. This reminds the poet of the universal desire to be 
remembered after death, and, as he thinks upon it, he 
feels rising in his own breast the same anxious craving 
for immortality. His musings lead him to identify his 
own lot with that of the lowly sleepers, and he imagines 
he hears a "hoary-headed swain" narrating the story of his 
own life to some meditative inquirer, who is directed to 
read his epitaph — 

"Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn." 



NOTES AND ANSWERS 23 

5 The peculiar charm of the poem is owiog to the fact that 
it expresses, in an easy, natural way, feelings and emotions 
that have risen in every breast. Its naturalness and sim- 
plicity win the heart and enlist the sympathies. 

6 The Elegy is written in iambic pentameter measure, fre- 
quently called heroic verse. 

7 In the early days of Christianity in the British Islands it 
was customary to bury the dead inside the church build- 
ing in tombs built for the purpose. The wealthy would 
have the choice places near the altar. The poorer classes 
had to be content to lie in graves dug on the outside of the 
church. 

8 The curfew wa^ the" ringing of a bell during the Norman 
period at eight d*tl^k every night, to warn people to cover 
up their fires and retire to bed. 

9 The word is derived from the French couvre-feu, meaning 
cover fire. 

10 It is said that the curfew still rings in some parts of Eng- 
land. 

11 Tolls is transitive, having knell for its complement. S. S. 
Greene says, "The tolling of the curfew is the knell of (de- 
parting day; therefore knell may be in apposition with the 
sentence. By many knell would be regarded as an object 
of kindred signification^with the verb." We so regard it. 

12 Knell is a cognate object. 

13 It means tZe-parting day. 

14 To preserve the metre. Count the syllables in each line 
of the stanza. 

15 Because Gray does not refer to the herd as an aggregate, 
but to the animals that compose it. He sees not it. but 
them, on their winding way. Gray's MS. has it ''wind.'' 

16 Lea means a meadow, a field. It is an old English word 
found in various forms — lay, ley, leigh, etc. Compare the 
names of towns in England, Lai/ham, Horley, Leighton, 
Hadleigh. 



24 NOTES AND ANSWERS 



17 Sixty transpositions may be made. 

1 The plowman homeward plods his weary way. 

2 The plowman homeward plods weary his way. 

3 The plowman homeward weary plods his way. 

4 The plowman plods homeward his weary way. 

5 The plowman plods homeward weary his way. 

6 The plowman plods weary his homeward way. 

7 The plowman plods weary homeward his way. 

8 The plowman plods his weary homeward way. 

9 The plowman plods his homeward weary way. 

10 The plowman weary plods his homeward way. 

11 The plowman weary plods homeward his way. 

12 The plowman weary homeward/plods .fils".wky. 

13 The weary plowman plods his homewm^d'^Way. 

14 The weary plowman plods homeward lijs way. 

15 The weary plowman homeward plods his ^BJy. 

16 The weary homeward plowman plods his way. 

17 The homeward plowmaii^plodfe; his /weary ^JCy. 

18 The homeward plowman weary plods his Wa'y. 

19 The homeward plowman plods weary his way. 

20 The homeward weary pli)wman plods his way. 

21 Homeward the plowman plods his weary way. 

22 Homeward the plowman plods weary his way. 

23 Homeward the plowman weary plods his way. 

24 Homeward the weary plowman plods his way. 

25 Homeward weary the plowman plods his way. 

26 Homeward weary plods the plowman his way. 

27 Homeward plods the plowman his weary way. 

28 Homeward plods the plowman weary his way. 

29 Homeward plods the weary plowman his way. 

30 Homeward plods weary the plowman his way. 

31 Weary the plowman plods his homeward way. 

32 Weary the plowman homeward plods his way. 
33. Weary the plowman plods homeward his way. 

34 Weary the homeward plowman plods his way. 

35 Weary homeward the plowman plods his way. 

36 Weary homeward plods the plowman his way. 



NOTES AND ANSWERS 25 

37 Weary plods the homeward plowman his way. 

38 Weary plods the plowman his homeward way. 

39 Weary plods the plowman homeward his way. 

40 Weary plods homeward the plowman his way. 

41 Plods homeward the plowman his weary way. 

42 Plods homeward the plowman weary his way. 

43 Plods homeward the weary plowman his way. 

44 Plods homeward weary the plowman his way. 

45 Plods weary the plowman homeward his way. 

46 Plods weary the plowman his homeward way. 

47 Plods weary homeward the plowman his way. 

48 Plods weary the homeward plowman his way. 

49 Plods the homeward plowman his weary way. 

50 Plods the homeward plowman weary his way. 

51 Plods the homeward weary plowman his way. 

52 Plods the weary homeward plowman his way. 

53 Plods the weary plowman homeward his way. 

54 Plods the weary plowman his homeward way. 

55 Plods the plowman homeward his weary way. 

56 Plods the plowman homeward weary his way. 

57 Plods the plowman weary his homeward way. 

58 Plods the plowman weary homeward his way. 

59 Plods the plowman his homeward weary way. 

60 Plods the plowman his weary homeward way. 

Islote 1. Nearly all editors of the Elegy have the spell- 
ing "ploughman." We have followed Gray's 
MS. which has it ''plowman^ 

18 How appropriately the word plods expresses the slow drag- 
ging walk of the toil-worn plowman may be seen by sub- 
stituting any one of its synonyms. Try goes, wends, 
makes, etc. 

19 Plods is intransitive. 

20 Weary logically qualifies plowman. Grammatically it be- 
longs to way. 

21 The plowman was weary. 

22 Poetic license gives him the right. 



26 NOTES AND ANSWERS 

modify plods, or, as some grammarians say, ''ivay is in the 
objective case without a governing word." 

24 The word world here means all natural things within sight 
of the poet. 

25 The plowman passfs from Gray's sight and therefore 
leaves the poet's world. 

26 Landscape is the subject of the verb fades. 

27 Stillness is the subject of holds. 

Note 2. Difference of opinion prevails among grammar- 
ians as to the line, 

**A11 the air a solemn stillness holds." 

Some claim that air is the subject of holds; 
others, that stillness is the subject. The matter 
depends upon the shade of meaning given to the 
verb holds [see answer to No. 28]. We reason 
thus: air is a concrete noun and stillness is ab- 
stract. The abstract is in or pervades the con- 
crete. Stillness is in or pervades the air. 

28 Holds means pervades, permeates. 

29 S. S. Greene says: "Save is a preposition, showing the re- 
lation between where the distant folds and 

all; that is, all the air except or save, the part excepted, 
is still." — Greene's Analysis, page 291. 

30 Save seems originally to have been used as a passive par- 
ticiple, like except, provided, etc., with a noun nominative 
absolute. Save is now generally considered a preposition 
used in the sense of except and is followed by an object. 
Angus says, "Save was originally an imperative." 

31 The object of save is the clause beginning with where and 
ending with the stanza. 

32 The verb wheels may be considered transitive, having flight 
for its object. Another view is to make wheels instransi- 
tive enuivalent in meaning to turning or flying round and 
round in an aimless flight, as beetles do. 



NOTES AND ANSWERS 27 

33 The beetle here alluded to is the May-bug, door-beetle, or 
cock-chafer that flies about on summer evenings making 
a droning sound. The grub of this insect remains in the 
ground three years before coming to its perfect state, and 
is so voracious that it does great injury to the roots of 
grass and trees. 

34 Lord Kames in his Elements of Criticism says: "This fig- 
ure is not dignified with a proper name, because it has 

been overlooked by writers." 
Swinton calls such figures "" Transferred Epithets," a very 
good name for them. 

It is the beetle that drones, but the epithet droning is 
transferred to flight. The people or the sheep hearing the 
tinkling of the bell become drowsy, but the epithet is 
transferred to tinklings. 

Note 3. The word weary in the third line of the poem is 
another example of transferred epithet. 

35 Folds is used by metonymy for flocks. 

36 The clause following is the object of save. The construc- 
tion is similar to that in line 7. 

37 That in such constructions was originally a demonstrative 
pronoun, meaning that fact or circumstance, the clause 
following being in apposition. 

That may now be regarded as a mere introductory word. 
It might be called the sentence article. 

38 Yonder is a definitive adjective. 

39 Ivy-mantled means covered with ivy as with a mantle or 
cloak. 

40 Tower comes from the Anglo-Saxon tor, torr, tur a rock, 
a peak, a tower. 

Compare Dutch toren, German thurm, Gaelic tor, tur, and 
Latin turris. 

41 Because the word appropriately describes the nature of 
the owl. The owl is a moping, melancholy bird. 

42 The poet makes the melancholy hooting of the owl appear 
as addressed to the moon. 

Compare Shakespeare's 'T had rather be a dog, and bay 
the moon, than such a Roman." 



28 NOTES AND ANSWERS 

43 Such is a pronominal adjective used as a noun. 
As does duty for a relative pronoun. 
Wandering is a participle. 

Near is an adverb. 

Some grammarians call near a preposition. In our opinion 
near is never a preposition. Study the following sentence: 
The steamer passed near the shore, the yawl passed nearer 
the shore, and the skiff passed nearest the shore. 

44 Because the owl is personified as a feminine noun. 

45 Bower is from the Anglo-Saxon hur, a cottage, a chamber, 
hence a shelter. Compare German hauer. 

46 Bower is in the objective case, subsequent or object of a 
preposition to or i^^i^o understood. In Anglo Saxon it is in 
the dative case, dative denoting nearness. 

47 The owl unmolested had made her home in the ivy-mantled 
tower for a long time, hence the poet makes her reign 
ancient. 

48 Because the adjective ancient modifies the thought ex- 
pressed by solitary reign. It does not mean ancient and 
solitary. 

49 Beneath has two subsequent terms of relation, elms and 
shade. It makes but little difference whether the ante- 
cedent term of relation be considered the participle laid, 
or the verb sleep. Both these words might be considered 
antecedent terms of relation. 

51 Shade has a wider meaning than shadoiv. 

52 Rugged is akin to rough, 

53 It is an adverbial clause modifying the phrase, heneath 
. . . . elms and .... shade. 

54 Heaves is intransitive. 

55 Turf is its subject. The turf rises in mounds above the 
graves. 



NOTES AND ANSWERS 29 

56 Many a is a construction more than ordinarily difficult of 
explanation. Archbishop French, in the first edition of 
his English, Past and Present, explained ''many a man" 
as a corruption of "many of men." In the later editions 
he has quietly withdrawn this statement. Many grammar- 
ians followed French without due examination. In ear'y 
English it was a frequent practice to emphasize the ad- 
jective by a change of position, as long a time, for a long 
time. This is shown by our retention of such expressions 
as such a woman, what a day. Abbott in his How to Parse, 
par. 218, says the regular construction for many a man 
has tried would be many men have tried; but this seems 
to have been confused with "many times a man has tried". 
Hence Abbott parses many as an adverb modifying a or as 
a part of the compound adjective many a^=many one. Other 
writers regard many as an adjective, and the construc- 
tion as inverted. 

Is^ote 4. Such expressions as many a, such a. ivhat a. hut a. 
not a, etc., should be parsed together as single 
adjectives. 

57 Yes. Because their meaning will permit no other rational 
disposition. 

58 Each is a pronominal adjective used as a noun in the nomi- 
native case in apposition to forefathers. 

59 Narrow cell means the grave. 

60 Rude is from the Latin rudis, and means rough, unculti- 
vated, not polished in manners. 

61 Ham. is an old English word, meaning an abode or home. 
The word still exists in such names as OakTiam, Bucking- 
ham, etc.; let is a diminutive suffix, meaning little, as in 
streamlet, etc. Hence, hamlet means a little home. 

62 The morning air is filled with incense, giving health to 
those who breathe it. 

63 Ttvittering is a participle modifying swallow. Straw-huilt 
refers to the thatched roofs then common in England. 

64 A clarion is a kind of trumpet. 

65 Clarion is used by metonymy for the crowing of the cock. 



30 NOTES AND ANSWERS 

66 Echoing horn alludes to the horn of the huntsman. The 
chase usually began early in the morning. 

67 They snould be parsed together. Because no more means 
never. 

68 Shall rouse has four subjects, call, swallow, clarion and 
horn. 

69 Because they were roused from sleep not by their will, 
but by other agents. 

70 Forefathers. 

71 Because the meaning is humble bed. The word refers 
rather to the quality of the bed than to its height or ?J0- 
sition. 

72 No. Although some writers have taken lowly bed to mean 
the grave. 

Gray meant literally bed. not grave. 

73 The four subjects of shall rouse with their modifiers con- 
stitute the figure, accumulation, lines 17, 18 and 19. 

74 There is nothing harsh about the call of incense-breathing 
morn, the twittering swallow, the cock's clarion or the 
hunter's horn. 

75 Hearth is the subject of shall burn. 

76 The fire burns on or behind the hearth. 

77 The answer to No. 69 applies here. 

78 Yes. Care is used for task to rhyme with share. Care 
might be considered object of preposition, at understood, 

79 Ply means to work steadily, to be busy. 

80 Care here means the housewife's evening work or tasks. 

81 To lisp is an infinitive used adverbially to modify riin. 
It denotes purpose. 

Return is a noun complement of to lisp. 

82 Yes. Or it might be considered the subsequent of the 
preposition, upon understood. 

83 Kiss. 

84 To share modifies climb by denoting purpose. 

85 Sickle is from the A.nglo-Saxon sicel, sicol, to cut, a 
side. A reaping hook having a circular form. 

86 Forefathers. 



NOTES AND ANSWERS 31 

87 Furroic is the subject of has broke. 

88 For the sake of meter and rhyme. 
A case of poetic license. 

89 No. It violates the sequence of tense. 
Notice the other verbs in this stanza. 

90 Stubborn means like a stub, i. e., stiff, unbending, obsti- 
nate. 

91 Furrow is used by metonymy for ploiv. 

92 Glebe means turf, soil or land. 

93 By poetic license. Jocund is an adjective form used for 
an adverb form, a practice common in poetry. 

94 Jocund modifies did drive. 

95 Afield is a noun used adverbially to modify did drive. 

96 A has the force of a preposition, and is contracted by 
rapidity of pronunciation. 

97 Woods is the subject of bow'd. 

98 Sturdy means hardy, strong. 

99 By metonymy, a favorite figure with Gray. 

100 Mock is an infinitive, the basis of the phrase used as 
the object of the verb let, having ambition for its ac- 
cusative subject. 

101 Joys and destiny are nouns, object of the infinitive 
mock. 

Observe is an adjective modifying destiny. 

102 Homely means plain, having the plainness of home. 

103 By metonymy. 

104 Annals, records classified by years. 

105 Plural... Modern usage would hardly allow this word 
to be considered singular. 

106 Heraldry is the science of armorial bearings. 

107 A pronominal adjective, or an adjective pronoun. 

108 Hour is the subject of awaits. 



32 NOTES AND ANSWERS 

Note 5. Gray in his MS. wrote it ''awaits^ Many 
writers, mistaking the meaning, changed awaits 
to await, claiming that await cannot be justi- 
fied on grammatical grounds. Careful thought 
will lead any one to see that the meaning is, 
that the inevitable hour, i. e., the hour of death, 
aiuaits the boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 
and all that beauty or wealth ever gave. 
The hour of death will terminate all such van- 
ities. 
109 and 110. These two queries are answered in Note 5. 

111 Alike is an adverb and modifies the verb awaits. 

112 Inevitable hour means the hour of death. 

113 (1) Wolfe's death. (2) Lord Nelson's death. 

114 But is an adverb and modifies the phrase to the grave. 

115 Ye has here a demonstrative force. 
You is personal. 

116 Ye is a demonstrative pronoun or adjective and points 
out proud. 

Proud is a noun in apposition to yon. 

117 These is a pronominal adjective. 

118 These represents those buried in the churchyard. 

119 By a combination of personification and metonymy. 
Memory=remembering ones. 

120 This clause is adverbial, modifying raise. 

121 Long-drawn pictures the long narrow aisle of a cathedral 
or large church. 

122 Aisle is from the Latin ala, a wing. 

123 Fret is a kind of angular ornament, formed by small 
fillets interlacing each other at right angles. Hence, a 
fretted vault is one ornamented with frets. 

124 An anthem is church music adapted to passages from 
the Scripture. 

125 Pealing is a participial adjective modifying anthem. 

126 The ancient Greeks and Romans used to burn their 
dead and place their ashes in urns made for the pur- 
pose. These urns were frequently ornamented outside 
with pictures illustrating the story or history of the 
deceased person. Such an urn the poet calls a storied 
urn. Windows of churches are often similarly painted 
with quotations from Scripture. 



NOTES AND ANSWERS 33 

127 Animated means looking lifelike. 

128 Mansion is here used for the human body. 

129 Honour's voice means the praise given one for commend- 
able actions. 

130 Because provoke is here used in its simple primary sig- 
nification, to call forth. 

131 Provoke comes from the Latin provocare, to call forth. 

132 In this stanza there are three examples of rhetorical 
interrogation. Lines 41 and 42 constitute the first; 
line 43, the second; line 44, the third. 

Honour's, Flattery, and Death, are examples of personi- 
fication. 

133 Neglected is used in the sense of uncared for, unnoticed. 

134 Pregnant is an adjective modifying heart. 

135 Heart is the subject of is laid. 

136 Celestial fire means the gift of poetry. 

137 Hands is a noun subject of the vjerb, are laid understood. 

138 Rod of Empire means the sceptre as the emblem of 
sovereignty. 

139 Living lyre probably means one which gives forth pe- 
culiarly sweet sounds under the hands of a skilful per- 
former. 

140 Her represents knowledge. 

141 Knowledge is personified as a feminine noun, hence her 
is feminine. 

142 Page is in the objective case complement of did unroll. 

143 The page of knowledge is ample. 
Knowledge covers a wide range of subjects. 

144 Rich modifies page. 

145 By the spoils of Time are meant the various kinds of 
knowledge that time and study have enabled men to 
win from Ignorance. 

146 Coldness is an attribute of Penury; hence, chill Penury. 

147 Before printing was invented books were written upon 
parchment, the sheets of which were rolled together and 
not bound as the leaves of a modern book. These ancient 
books had to be opened in the same way as we open a 
map, by unrolling it. 



34 NOTES AND ANSWERS 

148 Noble rage means enthusiasm, inspiration; that is, the 
enthusiasm by whieli they might have been carried to 
eminence in one or other of the lofty positions indicated 
in the previous stanza. 

149 Genial comes from gigno, — inborn or natural. 

150 Current means the flowing of their longings or desires. 

151 Full modifies many a. 

152 No. Because the meaning forbids it. 

153 A gem is a precious stone. 

154 Purest ray means perfect in color. 

155 Serene modifies ray. 

156 Serene means cltar. 

157 An unfathomed cave is one so deep that it has never 
been measured. 

A fathom is six feet. It is used in measuring the 
depth of the sea. 

158 Bear here means contain, have, hold. 

159 To blush is an infinitive modifying is born. 

160 Unseen is an adjective. Because there is no verb unsee 
from which to derive a participle. 

161 Blush is more poetical than blossom. 

162 Waste is an infinitive modifying is born. 

163 Because the term well represents the deep poverty and 
the unappreciative surroundings which often obscure the 
''lamp of genius." 

164 Some village Hampden is an instance of the figure an- 
tonomasia a form of synecdoche which consists in using 
a proper name to designate a class. 

165 Because the poet makes Hampden represent a class of 
common villagers. 

166 John Hampden was a cousin of Oliver Cromwell. He 
entered Parliament in 1621, was imprisoned in 1627 for 
refusing to pay his portion of an illegal loan which the 
king was attempting to raise, but was shortly afterward 
liberated and became an active member of Parliament. 
In 1634, to raise money, Charles I. had recourse to the 
impost of **ship-money," at first limiting the tax to Lon- 
don and other maritime towns; but, attempting in 1636 
to levy from inland places, Hampden resisted, was tried 



NOTES AND ANSWERS 35 

and fined. He was afterward a member of both the 
Short and the Long Parliaments, and was one of the 
' "Five" whom Charles tried to seize. On the breaking out 
of the civil war, he entered the Parliamentary army, and 
was fatally wounded at the battle of Chalgrove Field. 

167 The wealthy landed proprietor who sought to oppress his 
tenantry, as Charles I. attempted to violate the liberties 
of the English people. 

168 The relative that is the subject of withstood. 

169 Hampden is in the nominative case, one of the subjects 
of may rest. 

170 John Milton, the great English Epic poet, was born in 
1608 and died in 1674. 

An enumeration of his writings may be made by the 
student. 

171 Because any of those buried in the churchyard of the 
Milton type were unknown to fame. 

172 Oliver Cromwell was a country gentleman who became 
member of Parliament for Huntingdon, and afterwards 
the leader of the Parliamentarian forces against those 
of Charles I., on the execution of whom he was made 
Lord-Protector of the Commonwealth of England. He 
died in 1658. 

173 That the murder of Charles I. was illegal and unjustified 
lio one will doubt; but as to the culpability of Cromwell 
there will always be a difference of opinion. 

174 History teaches that the pendulum of civil government 
is ever swinging between monarchy and anarchy. 

175 Listening senates refers to the Houses of Parliament 
listening to some famous orator. 

176 These four infinitives, with their complements, are the 
immediate objects of forhade in line 65. By supplying 
the remote object them, the construction will be evident. 
These infinitives, with their complements, are intended 
by the poet to represent "their growing virtues." 
Their lot not only circumscribed their virtues, but also 
confined their crimes, namely, to wade, etc., to shut, etc., 
to hide, etc., to quench, etc., to heap, etc. These in- 
finitives are the objects of forbade in line 67. 



86 NOTES AND ANSWERS 

177 Applause is the object of to command. 
Threats is the object of to despise. 
Plenty is the object of to scatter. 
History is the object of to read. 

178 Smiling land may mean productive as applied to the 
land itself, or, by the figure, metonymy, may signify 
prosperous or grateful in reference to the people. 

179 Because the thought is not completed and is carried over 
into the next stanza. 

180 Anastrophe. 

181 Alone, an adjective connected grammatically with virtues. 

182 Growing virtues means the powers of mind that would 
have developed themselves if opportunity had been af- 
forded. 

183 Their lot not only circumscribed their growing virtues, 
but also confined their crimes. 

Now it is easy to analyze. 

184 (1) William the Conqueror at the battle of Hastings. 

(2) Henry IV., by the murder of Richard II. 

(3) Richard III., by the murder of his nephews, Edward 
V. and Richard Duke of York. 

185 To shut the gates of mercy is to allow no mercy to be 
shown, to act in a cruel and unmerciful manner. 

186 Metonymy. 

187 It will be remembered that Gray refused the "Laurel." 

188 In their low estate there was no temptation for them 
to conceal their real sentiments, as is too frequently 
the case with those who are acquiring or have acquired 
position and influence. In covering up one's real opinions, 
"conscious truth," for the sake of place or power, there 
must be more or less of a "struggle" and "pang" in the 
mind. 

189 Perhaps. They have less ambition for position. 

190 These rude ones were unpracticed in hiding the guilt 
of the heart under a fair exterior. 

191 Ingenuous means open, frank, free from reserve. 

192 A shrine is a case in which something sacred is de- 
posited. 



NOTES AND ANSWERS 37 

193 Incense is perfume exhaled by fire. 
Here it means poetic adulation or flattery. 

194 Kindled is a participle modifying incense. 

195 The Muses were, according to the earliest writers, the 
inspiring goddesses of song, and, according to later 
notions, divinities presiding over the different kinds of 
poetry, and over the arts and sciences. 

The names of the Muses were: 



Clio, the Muse of history: 

Euterpe, the Muse of lyric poetry: 

Thalia, the Muse of comedy: 

Melpomene, the Muse of tragedy: , 

Terpsichore, the Muse of the dance: 

Polyhymnia, the Muse of sublime hymn: 

Urania, the Muse of astronomy: 

Calliope, the Muse of epic poetry: 

Erato, the Muse of erotic poetry, geometry, and the 
mimic art. 



38 NOTES AND ANSWERS 

^'ote 6 After the 18tli stanza Gray's first MS. had the 
following four stanzas, now omitted: 

The thoughtless world to majesty may bow, 

Exalt the brave, and idolize success; 
But more to innocence their safety owe 

Than Pow'r, or Genius, e'er conspir'd to bless. 

And thou who, mindful of the unhonour'd dead, 
Dost in these notes their artless tale relate. 

By night and lonely contemplation led 
To wander in the gloomy walks of fate 

Hark! how the sacred calm, that breathes around. 
Bids every fierce tumultuous passion cease; 

In still small accents whisp'ring from the ground 
A grateful earnest of eternal peace. 

No more, with reason and thyself at strife, 

Give anxious cares and wishes room; 
But through the cool sequester'd vale of life 

Pursue the silent tenor of thy doom. 

Gray first intended that the Elegy should end here. The 
second of these stanzas has been remodelled and used 
as the 24th of the present version. 



NOTES AXD ANSWERS 39 

196 Far is an adverb modifying the phrase from strife. 

197 It modifies hefjt. 

Note 7. To give the poet's meaning, line 73 must be 
considered as an adverbial adjunct to kept. If it be 
taken with the second lice of the stanza, as by punctua- 
tion and position it should be, it would give a sense 
exactly contrary to that intended. They attended to 
their own little matters, unaffected by the eager scrambl- 
ing for w^ealth or position that must necessarily exist in 
every town or city. 

198 Madding means excited and exciting. 

199 Ignotle strife means the strife of trade, or commercialism. 
Gray despised a commercial life. 

200 To stray is an infinitive used as the object of learn'd. 

201 Sober means calm, moderate. 

202 Cool expresses an attribute of a quiet or retired vale. 

203 Sequestered means retired. 

204 Noiseless tenor means their quiet course. 

205 Yft is an adverb modifying implores. 

206 Even emphasizes these bones. Adverb. 

207 Bones is a noun object of to protect. 

To protect is an infinitive adverbial to erected. 

208 Memorial probably means the wooden head boards on 
which the name, etc., of the deceased was painted, said to 
be frail because not so strong or lasting as gravestones. 

209 Erected is a participle modifying memorial. 
Nigh is an adverb modifying erected. 

210 The literal meaning of uncouth is unknoivn. Render it 
here unpolished. 

211 Deck'd is a participle modifying memorial. 

212 Byron asks, "In Gray's Elegy is there an image more 
striking than his 'shapeless sculpture'?" 

Shapeless means, not as being without shape, but as 
having little resemblance to the object intended to be 
represented. 

213 Memorial is the subject of implores. 

214 Spelt renders the line more euphonious than spelled 

215 Unlettered means U7ilearned. 



40 NOTES AND ANSWERS 

216 Fame and elegy have reference to memorials to the dead. 

217 Text refers to a common practice of inscribing passages 
of Scripture on tombstones. 

218 Muse. 

219 That teach is evidently ungrammatical. 

To teach is much better. Gray sacrificed the grammar 
for euphony. 

220 To die is the immediate, moralist the remote or dative, 
object of teach. 

221 Rustic moralist may mean either the peasant who prac- 
tices morality, or the one who simply philosophizes 
thereupon. 

222 For is an introductory particle. 

223 The poet means that no one in ordinary circumstances 
has ever died in such a state of forgetfulness as not 
to look back with longing upon the days that are past. 

224 Prey is in apposition with being. 

Note 8. Hales remarks. **At the first glance it might 
seem that to dumb Forgetfulness a prey was 
[is] in apposition to who, and the meaning 
was [is] 'Who that now lies forgotten,' etc.; 
in which case the second line of the stanza 
must be closely connected with the fourth; for 
the question of the passage is not 'Who ever 
died?' but 'Who ever died without wishing to be 
remembered?' But in this way of interpreting 
this difficult stanza (i) there is comparatively 
little force in the appositional phrase, and (ii) 
there is a certain awkwardness in deferring so 
long the clause (virtually adverbial though 
apparently coordinate) in which, as has just 
been noticed, the point of the question really 
lies. Perhaps therefore it is better to take the 
phrase to dumh Forgetfulness a prey as in fact 
the completion of the predicate resigned, and 
interpret thus: Who ever resigned this life of 
his with all its pleasures and all its pains to 
be utterly ignored and forgotten ?=who ever, 



NOTES AND ANSWERS 41 

when resigning it, reconciled himself to its 
being forgotten? In this case the second half of 
he stanza echoes the thought of the first half." 
\Ve do not concur in this, but prefer to take 
to dumb Forgetfulness a prey as appositional, 
and not as the grammatical complement of 
resigned. 

Our rendition may be made plain by collating 
the words of the first two lines of the stanza 
thus : 

For, who this pleasing anxious being, a prey to 
dumb forgetfulness, ever resigned? 

225 Pleasing is used in the sense of acceptable. 

226 Warm expresses the condition of the cheerful day. 
Precincts means limits or confines. 

227 Alliteration. 

228 No. Because the sense does not require the use of a 
comma between these words. 

The thought is one longing lingering look. 

229 This is an example of climax. 

We have death, after death, after burial, and even 
after that. 

230 Parting means departing, as it does in line 1. 
Pious means affectionate. 

231 Even is an adverb modifying the phrase, from the tomb. 

232 Our is the first person plural, and their represents 
ashes. 

233 Ashes means bodily remains. 

Cremation is consuming the dead body by fire. 

234 Wonted means accustomed. 

Fires means the higher desires and aspirations of men. 

235 For thee is grammatically connected with may say in 
line 97. In this construction, Haply * * * say is 
the principal sentence; 

7/ * * * fate is a subordinate adverbial clause to it. 

236 Yes. 

237 Unhonour'd means not honored, i. e., having no honor 



42 NOTES AND ANSWERS 

bestowed upon them. 

238 Dislionourecl is a much stronger word than unhonoured. 
Unhonoured means receiving no honor. 
Dishonoured means disgraced. 

239 An artless tale is a simple story. 

240 Chanee means perchance. 

241 Led modifies spirit. 

242 We prefer to consider inquire intransitive, and supply 
a preposition about or concerning to govern fate. Many 
would call fate the object of inquire. 

243 Kindred means of like kind or nature. 

The comma is placed after fate because line 93 to line 
97, inclusive, are grammatically connected. 

244 A swain is a man dwelling in the country, a rustic. 

245 Haply means perhaps. 

246 The object of say is all within quotation marks from 
line 98 to line 116, inclusive. 

247 Peep of dawn means sunrise. 

248 Brushing is a participle modifying him. 

249 It means to see the sun rise. 

250 Upland lawn is a lawn sloping upward. 

251 Lawn formerly meant meadow. Its meaning is now 
narrowed to a plot of grass near a house. 

252 Nodding means waving in the breeze. 

If the beech waved in the breeze, it nodded. 

253 Wreathes means to twist. 

Fantastic alludes to the peculiar forms into which the 
roots of trees, especially of the beech, are often twisted. 

254 Because listless expresses most forcibly the thought in- 
tended. Listless means inattentive, idle. The poet speaks 
of himself as lying at full length upon the grass at the 
foot of a shady beech with nothing else to do but to 
pore upon the brook that babbles by. 

255 Noontide means time of noon. 

256 Pore means to gaze steadily. 

257 Bahhle is an onomatopoeic or sound word. 

A babbling brook is one that flows over its pebbly bed 
with a hahhling sound. 



NOTES AND ANSWERS 43 

258 The rattle of a snake, the tinkle of a sheep bell, the 
clash of arms, the crash of a falling tree, the rumble of 
a train, and the murmur of a stream all are examples of 
onomatopoe. 

Beech and stretch do not rhyme in sound. They are 
eye rhymes rather than ear rhymes. 

259 Hard is an adverb modifying the phrase hy yon wood. 

260 Smiling as in scorn is a participial phrase modifying 
he. 

261 Supply words as follows: as {he would smile) {if he 
were smiling) in scorn, and the parsing of as is easy. 

262 Muttering his wayward fancies is a participial phrase 
modifying he. 

Some parse this phrase as adverbial to would rove. 
We believe that the participle should always be con- 
sidered adjectival. 

263 Drooping a,nd woeful-wan are adjective adjuncts of he 
(understood), to be supplied as the subject of would 
rove (understood). Crazed and crossed modify one. 

264 Lilce is an adjective modifying he. 

265 Forlorn modifies one. 

266 One is an indefinite pronoun in the objective case after 
to understood. 

267 Morn is noun objective, used adverbially to modify 
missed. 

268 Customed means accustomed. 

This word is now obsolete in sense. 

269 Isfear is an adverb. 

270 Another is a pronominal adjective used as a noun. 

271 A rill is a little stream of water. 

272 Wood is used for woods, trees. 

Because of the grammatical sequence of the words. 

273 Islext is used instead of morn (morn came). 

274 Dirge is from dirige, a solemn service in the Catholic 
Church, being a hymn beginning dirige gressus meos. 
Hence a dirge is a hymn. 

275 Due means to oive, from the Latin dehere. 

276 No. But grammatically it does. 



44 NOTES AND ANSWERS 

277 Slow modifies borne. 

Because the metre requires slow. 

278 Church-ivay path means church-yard path, i. e., the path 
between the graves. 

279 Him is the direct object and home is the supplemental 
object of saw. 

280 Borne is an infinitive used as the supplemental object 
of saw. 

281 This parenthetical clause implies that the '"hoary-headcd 
swain'' could not read. 

282 A lay is a funeral lamentation. 

The exigencies of rhyme compelled Gray to use this word 
in place of epitaph. 

283 Because the metre requires one syllable. 

Note..^. Before the epitaph, Gray's MS. contains the 
following omitted stanza: 
*'There scattered oft, the earliest of the year, 

By hands unseen are frequent violets found; 
The robin loves to build and warble there. 

And little footsteps lightly print the ground." 
This stanza was printed in some of the early 
editions, but afterwards omitted because Gray 
thought that it was too long a parenthesis in this 
place. 

The stanza is most beautiful and deserves pre- 
servation. 

284 An epitaph is an inscription on a monument, in honor 
of or in memory of the dead. 

285 Lap of earth is a metaphor. By this beautiful figure 
he is made to rest in his grave (the lap of earth) like 
a tired child in the lap of its mother. 

286 Youth is the subject of rests. 

287 Head is in the objective case after the preposition with 
understood, or it might be taken in the nominative case 
absolute with the participle being understood. We pre- 
fer the first interpretation of the meaning. 

288 Unknoivn is an adjective. 



NOTES AND ANSWERS 45 

289 Lap of earth is a metaphor. 

Fortune. Fame, Science, and Melancholy are personifica- 
tions. 
Frown'd no^=smiled is an example of litotes. 

290 Large was his bounty is an instance of hyperbation. 

291 Sincere is from Latin sine, without, and cera, wax, mean- 
ing honey free from wax. 

292 As is here used absolutely, not correlatively. 

293 Large is a predicate adjective. 

294 All is the appositive and explains tear. 

Note 10. In some editions all he had is inclosed in a 
parenthesis. Gray's MS. gives it as in this 
text. 

295 That understood is the object of wished. 

296 Friend is the object of gained. 

Note 11. The third and fourth lines of this stanza 
respectively explain the first and second. 

297 The object of seek includes his * * * abode. 

298 To disclose and to draw are infinitives used as the basis 
of the complement of the verb seek. 

299 Dread abode is amplified and explained by the last line. 

300 Merits and frailties are the antecedents of they. 

301 Alike is an adverb modifying repose. 

302 Bosom is the subsequent of the preposition on under- 
stood. 

303 I think the XIV. stanza is the most frequently quoted. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 




014 151 729 6 # 



